Skip to main content

tv   MONEY With Melissa Francis  FOX Business  January 15, 2013 5:00pm-6:00pm EST

5:00 pm
robot child, is being built at the university of california san diego. there is the brain. but the goal is to have the robot express human emotions and develop relationships with people. scientists hope that this humanoid robots can be used in therapy sessions with special needs children to help develop social interactions. in the future the robot might learn a variety of things from watching others including advanced manufacturing work. david: only if they watch fox business. if these things will watch fox business, who knows, they may be your future anchors. time for the top two things to watch for tomorrow. number two, consumer price index. we haven't seen the cpi. economists expecting to show no change month over month. core cpi excludes food and energy is expected to rise just .2%. liz: the number one thing to watch tomorrow, you have to look at this one, earnings from financial heavyweights, jpmorgan and goldman sachs. ahead of bell goldman sachs
5:01 pm
is expected to post $3.78 earnings per share. analysts looking for jpmorgan a buck 16 and a 24.4 billion in revenue. david: folks, thanks for watching. it will be a busy day tomorrow. see you then. melissa is then. melissa: i'm melissa francis and here's what is "money" tonight. lance confesses. the fallen super athlete admits he doped to oprah and now his legal nightmare begins. how much could he owe? is his brand still alive? today's power panel kicks into high gear to respond. >> if you give a mouse a cookie he will probably want a glass of higher taxes that is my theory. we're just seeing a hit to our paychecks because of this year's tax increases. now the president says we need to give him even more. we'll tell you how bad it could get. u.s. gas demand has slipped to the lowest level in years but is it really because of fuel-efficient cars or could it be so many people out there are out of work they can't even afford to pay at the pump?
5:02 pm
we'll get to the truth behind the numbers. even when they say it is not it is always about money. melissa: all right. here's today market moment. mixed economic data led to a choppy trading session for stocks. the dow rallied for a fifth straight session, closing up 27 points. another day for dell shares. fox business's charlie gasparino, silver lake partners, private equity firm is in advanced talks to buy out the company. facebook unveiled a new search engine called graph search. it hopes to revolutionize how users find thinks on facebook. for example, a guy could ask who among my friends doesn't have a girlfriend, lives in his mom's basement and loves playing "world of warcraft". i don't get why this is so great, right? that is 40% of the facebook. investors were also not
5:03 pm
impressed. facebook shares slipped 3%. we start with a story everyone is talking about today. can lance armstrong rise again. after years of repeated vehement denials, he was vehement, the disgraced cyclist finally comes clean admitting to oprah winfrey he did in fact take performance-enhancing drugs when he won all seven tour de france titles. believe it or not, oprah says it was surprisingly candid admission. here is what she said. >> i think i went in prepared to have to dig and pull and reference because i was literally in my head on page 76 of the reasoned decision, if he says this, then i will go to that. if he says this answer, i will go to seven deadly since, page 114. i, i didn't have to do that because he was pretty forthcoming. melissa: but still, i mean it does beg the question why
5:04 pm
and why now? he is facing potential lawsuits, huge financial fines, possibly even jail time. today's "money" power panel is here to explain every angle. peter shenkman is marketing consultant. page pratt, is a attorney and jim gray, fox sports contributor. jail time, how serious could his trouble be here? >> it could be very serious. there was initially a criminal investigation while it didn't clear him, they closed the investigation without bringing any charges. but if they can show that he made a false statement in connection with his dealings with the postal service, they could bring that investigation back and criminal charges could certainly be a possibility. melissa: wow, peter, you're shaking your head. >> this blows my mind. you tell clients to get in front of the story, admit and move it on. don't admit it after seven years of constant denial. a month ago stripped of all the titles. the subject was closed.
5:05 pm
he is a cheater but leing it go. who in their right mind and come back a month later after all that i did it. melissa: who would? >> this was an overzealous pr team, you really should get in front of it and write a book. for what reason? he is worth $125 million. no reason to do this. i was floored he went on "oprah" to do this, floored. melissa: jim gray, what do you think? there is has to be upside although we're scratching our heads here, what could be be? >> if there is upside it remains to be seen. i don't see any upside to this other than the fact he lost his entire life. he lost any reputation, any sled he might have had left was totally taken from him stripped of the tileds and usada totally banned him for life. maybe look to president nixon or president clinton who had a great public life after the problems that they had, particularly president clinton what he has gone on to do. maybe he is hoping for that. i can't see it. >> that is an interesting point to bring up.
5:06 pm
peter, ask the whole panel, because the problem here is that he admitted he was a fraud at the very thing he was most famous for. i mean everyone loved him because he seemed to be superhuman. he beat cancer. he was a super athlete. doing things with his body people thought were impossible. turns out we were right, it was impossible. so what is there to salvage from there? >> if you look perspective had he walked away never done this, could have still done the lecture circuit and college tours. melissa: really. >> again because he never admitted. yes i stepped down to save livestrong foundation from going through anymore. he would have been looked at somewhat of a hero walking away. melissa: i don't know. >> he was stripped of his titles, i still won, i still bike, never did anything. had he stayed the course he might not made the money he could have made if this happened, he would still have been viable. he is not viable anymore. melissa: not viable, page, he is facing a lot of lawsuits. there is federal whistle-blower lawsuit brought by former teammate
5:07 pm
floyd landis accuses him of defrauding the postal service who sponsored him for $30 million. the potential legal bills go on. he is worth more than $100 million. some say 150 million. could he loose all of that. >> he could certainly lose close to 100 million. i think that is why he is doing this now. we know his lawyers have been in talks with the department of justice about this whistle-blower lawsuit. it is definitely possible that they are trying to negotiate a settlement. if you're going to settle with the justice department and you want to do it cheaply, you're going to need to admit your conduct, be contrite and accept responsibility. so this could be part of a negotiated resolution of the whistle-blower lawsuit with the justice department. melissa: i'm not a lawyer. why does that help you do it more cheaply if you come on "oprah" and say what you did? why does that contain costs? >> the potential loss on this whistle-blower lawsuit could be at least $100 million. but generally the justice department doesn't take a lawsuit like this all the way to trial. they try to settle the case up front.
5:08 pm
so his lawyers, department of justice lawyers, they can sit down and say look, you owe us 100 dal million but we're willing to let it go for less than that if you do these things. come clean, help livestrong. get it back to where it needs to be and accept responsibility for what you did. i think that is why he is doing it right now. melissa: jim, as somebody who has followed this sport for so long, is there anything he could do to rebuild his reputation? if he came out now, is there a sports career out there for him or sports following for him? >> i don't see it but we've seen certainly many, many others who have put themselves in very vulnerable and bad positions and done things that are so unbecoming and untoward. here is the problem that i see going forward. he has destroyed so many lives and he has been so vehement in his denials and he has sued people to save his reputation while destroying others. so now all of the great work that he has done with livestrong and all the people who he helped with
5:09 pm
cancer, if you're going forward with that organization i would think just because of the worldwide denials and lies and everything that he has put everybody through how could anybody really, when they sit back and think in good conscience, am i turning over my money? will i turn over my efforts for research to a man who was able to perpetuate this fraud against the world? melissa: yeah. >> i think it is very, very difficult. in sports we've seen barry bond and we've seen o.j. simpson, a lot of people, mark mcguire, tiger woods who destroyed their reputations. some have been able to come back and live good lives and do good things going forward and others faded away. nobody has done, nobody that i can think of, other than the double murders o.j. simpson was involved with, eventually acquitted but civil suit turned that over anybody, pete rose, go through the names. nothing like this. melissa: jim, wow, on that note. let's leave it there. panel, thank you so much. >> thank you. melissa: here is our "money" question of the day, is there anything that
5:10 pm
lance armstrong could say that would make you really believe in him again? a lot of you responded to this so far. most of you said no. that he is just lost all of his credibility. still remains to be seen. we want to hear from more of you. like us on facebook.co facebook.com/melissafrancisfox. follow me on twitter and melissaafrancis. turning now to taxes right? we're two weeks from i remind you biggest tax hikes in 20 years. president obama and congressional democrats already want more. take a look at this. >> by closing additional loopholes through tax reform, which speaker boehner has acknowledged can raise money in a sensible way and by doing some additional cuts we can arrive at a package that gets this thing done. melissa: seriously? could we actually be looking at more? is anyone safe? with me, stephen hayes from the weekly standard, and fox
5:11 pm
news contributor. we have a susan hoff former treasury senior advisor. welcome to all of you. susan sounds like more taxes are on their way. >> president obama has been speaking the entire time about balanced packages. he talked about a $4 trillion target. we have 2 1/2 trillion in the bank right now. we're looking at another 1 1/2 trillion. not all will be in taxes of the part will be in cuts and part in taxes. we can't be in place to ignore investments we need to make in infrastructure. there is report out today we could lose $3 trillion over next eight years. melissa: stephen, i'm sure you're chomping at the bit to respond to that? >> look, one thing i will say to president obama he came to office in 2008 saying he would raise taxes. he has done it. this is what the president does. this is the way that he conducted himself in office. if you look back to after he lost and you think was rebuked fairly strongly in the 2010 midterm elections, he came back and gave a state of the union, a couple months later and said, just
5:12 pm
as susan did, we need to save more because we need more money for investments of the this is the way the president governor earns. he is a tax-and-spend liberal of the old school and i think it's, entirely clear that he could ask for more taxes. melissa: i feel like i'm going insane here because i feel like there was some sort of conversation about, this is going to be balanced approach. we'll raise taxes. if republicans will give on that we'll go ahead and cut spending. i feel like we have raised taxes and now we'll raise even more taxes and we're still spending like drunken sailors. susan, am i wrong. >> we're not spending like drunken sailers. melissa: we're not? 16 trillion dollar debt. >> 11 trillion he inherited. melissa: that is fine. everyone is at fault. everyone contributed to to this we are in dire straits. we are broke. everyone is at fault. no one is fixing it. >> well, and he is trying to fix it. that is why $4 trillion total reduction if they get to that number, will stablize it and we'll be able to start making invests to see our economy grow.
5:13 pm
the one silver bullet in deficit reduction is economic growth. we need to get out of this circle we're in right now and start talking about growth. how we start moving the economy forward because we'll never get out of the hole otherwise. melissa: stephen, that is a great point. do you move the economy forward and grow by raising taxes, do you think. >> president obama at one point believed we do not. he argued in twine and 2010 you would hurt economic growth if you raised taxes at time the economy was struggling. that is what he argued at time. melissa: what do you think, steven. raising taxes grows the economy or -- >> no, it does not grow the economy. we have to be serious how much the president contributed to overall debt picture. $6 trillion since he came to office. nearly $20,000 per united states citizen has been added since president obama came into office. so just silly to argue he hasn't contributed. melissa: blame game gets us nowhere because everybody contributed to it. god it is a mess and we have to fix it. when you hear people like
5:14 pm
nancy pelosi saying the fiscal cliff was not enough on the revenue side. you hear, you know, many politicians chiming in. howard dean, for example, saying in december that the truth is everybody needs to pay more taxes. we're not going to get out of this deficit problem unless we raise taxes across the board. the rich can't solve the problem. i guess that is where i'm going with this is, it seems like, especially from what you're saying susan, everyone will have to pay more taxes to get out of this. >> i actually don't agree with that point. i don't agree with howard dean either. we're not looking more middle class tax increases. the president has been pretty firm on that. we're looking closing corporate loopholes. some people are starting to talk about high frequent financial transaction tax for people that are trading for less than a minute in a position. melissa: none of that will get us there. >> that could raise $350 billion, if you add that with tax cuts could get 1.2 the president is talking about. there are some measures to get up close. melissa: we're adding trillions every year to our deficit. what do you think, stephen,
5:15 pm
does that get us there? >> 1.2 trillion is this year's deficit. that doesn't solve the long-term problem. the thing we haven't had from this president in my view is serious proposal for structural entitlement reform on the order of something like the ryan budget that republicans offered. took a lot of grief for. something that would change the trajectory of our debt. things we've had from this president wouldn't do that. they might take a chunk here, take a chunk there but they don't change the overall debt picture and certainly don't change the trajectory. melissa: stephen, susan, stick around. we have a lot more on the other side of this break. like ben bernanke saying time to ditch the debt ceiling all together. is it as silly as he says it is? we'll debate that. more "money" ahead what are you doing?
5:16 pm
nothing.
5:17 pm
are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my... this thing. i save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. that's a great idea. i'm going to go... we got clients in today. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping at fedex office. [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it.
5:18 pm
5:19 pm
♪ . melissa: so moving onto another budget fight and accusations that republicans will hold the debt ceiling hostage over spending cuts, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said there is no practical purpose to the debt ceiling and it is a device to prevent the u.s. from paying its bills. why are we watching washington fight over it? maybe we should get rid of it.
5:20 pm
here is susan occhs, american banker columnist and former senior advisor to president obama and stephen hayes, "weekly standard" and fox news contributor. i will ask you both and, susan, start with you. does it serve a purpose? >> it really doesn't. this is kind of a belt and suspenders operation. if congress wants input how much money to be spent, there are 13 congressional committees that spend appropriations bills that spend money. this is time to have the conversation. they're holding economy hostage. what was benign in the system is now become dangerous. melissa: has to be reason, stephen? says belts and suspenders. maybe we have own our belt has fallen off and this is all we have left. >> so only tempting to go with the pants down met at that far. melissa: i laid that up to you. you need to spike it home. >> i would problem list mess it up. i think it is useful. anything that we have in our
5:21 pm
system members of congress and the president to take a look together how much money we're spending, at our overall debt i think is a good thing. when you have the public engaged in the way public is engaged in these kind of fights on these issues going back for the past five, six years. i think that is the only a good thing. we need the public to be engaged. we need people to take seriously the amount of debt we racked up here as a country. i agree with you on the blame game. it is not terribly useful but what we need to do is have a discussion about how to slow down that spending. anytime you have a requirement, statutorily makes you stop to take a look i think it is positive. melissa: susan, what was the original reason? >> this is baked in for a really long time and i don't actually even know what the initial intent of it was. part of it has become, use it as a piece to sort of have those broader conversations. the problem is, what happened, it is now, we're enabling hypocrisy on part of members of congress.
5:22 pm
they vote for their little independent, pork spending projects. they get to rail against, this massive out of control spending as if they had no relation to the two. melissa: right. >> it is sort of, allowing, a lack of discipline when we're having normal budget conversation. i think that is what is actually gotten really dangerous. melissa: stephen, only thing that makes sense to me about it, if i want my credit limit raised and extension, no one would give me more money unless i explained to them how i would deal with the problem i already created. why would american express, why would the bank give you another loan if you didn't tell them your plan, concretely, how to get your past spending under control and live within your means? >> right. even still they probably wouldn't give you a increase. melissa: that's true. >> but, look, i think that is a fair point. the problem here is we haven't been serious about not spending the money in the first place. this is where i think susan is right. there has been hip pock chris at this on all sides on this. republicans have voted against the debt ceiling
5:23 pm
increase. democrat president. dome kratz like the president voted against raising debt limit when he was in the senate and there was republican president. there is hypocrisy all over the place. what was particularly bothersome from the president we didn't hear from him any suggestion of where he wants us to go to solve the long-term problem. i go back to what we all understand is the cause of the problem here and that is entitlements and we need structural reform. melissa: last word real quick, we have to go. >> we'll never get to entitlement reform with a gun to your head that is what is happening with the debt ceiling. >> we didn't get to it before then. melissa: great discussion. next on "money", a stunning number of americans are using their 401(k)s to pay for every day expenses. a top financial planner said you couldn't make a worse decision. he is here to explain. we also asked for some other options if you're in this situation. plus, demand for gas is falling to lows not seen in
5:24 pm
nearly a decade. many are giving credit to stiff fuel efficiency mandates. i'm not sure i'm buying that. that is coming up though. do you ever have too much money? ♪ . suddenly, she does something unexpected
5:25 pm
and you see the woman you fell in love with. she's everything to you. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours.
5:26 pm
if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start. or questions about protecting your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like to find the right attorney to help guide you along, answer any questions and offer advice. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau legalzoom helps you get personalized and affordable legal protection. in most states, a legal plan attorney is available with every personalized document to answer any questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national.
5:27 pm
because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro.
5:28 pm
♪ . melissa: shocking new report being released this we can shows a whopping one in four americans, one in four, are breaching their 401(k) accounts for nonretirement needs an expenses. experts say it will have dire implications short term and long term. if you need fast cash to pay bills are there any other alternatives? we have a personal finance expert and he is here with the answers. great to see you again. >> thank you, melissa. great to be here. >> got to start out saying why this is a really bad idea. there are crazy tax and penalty implications t can be really expensive, right?
5:29 pm
>> that's right. if you plan to take money from your 401(k) stay away. there can not be a worse place to take money before retirement. melissa, think about this. almost $300 billion flow into 401(k) money every year, a third, a fourth of that comes out for people paying car loans, credit cards, colleges. those types of bills are simply hemorrhaging people's future retirement to make bills today. that has got to stop. we'll have a big problem down the road. melissa: now you can take a loan from your 401(k) and there's an interest rate to it. >> right. melissa: but you don't necessarily get the terrible tax penalty and everything if you pay it back within a certain amount of time but you really have to follow the rules and pay it back, right? >> that's right. think of the 401(k) loan as a worst-case scenario type of loan. most 401(k)s let you borrow up to half of the balance. you pay yourself back the interest. it does avoid as you say some taxes. if you're younger than 59 1/2 no penalties but it
5:30 pm
does take away from future savings and companies don't match on what you borrow. melissa: right. >> think of other alternatives to take money. melissa: like what? let's get into the alternatives. >> sure. melissa: all day people are doing stories why this is a terrible idea and they haven't been telling people in these straits what they can do instead. so what are your best ideas. >> make it real simple for our viewers. look at easy to access cash. look at your savings account, your checking account. they don't make much interest but there is no penalty or taxes to take money out of those. ideally you built up 3 to 6 months of committed living expense. >> i know. if you're taking money out of 401(k) you don't have cash in your savings or checking account. give me another one. >> the next one you want to do are other liquid invests. say you have stocks, bonds, that aren't in an ira or your retirement account. there may be a smaller penalty. maybe a smaller tax. tap into those first. the key here is you don't want to willingly give money
5:31 pm
to uncle sam if there are ways you can save taking money elsewhere. other places would be like a cd at the bank for example. they may not be paying much. again they avoid big penalties and taxes. you may want to think about a loan from a family member or a friend. that can damage the relationship long term, not the perfect way to go but if you're in these straits you want to look creatively at ways to save money and save on that early withdrawal penalty. that is 10%. you shouldn't have to be responsible for. melissa: you would really go borrow from a friend or family member before you pay the tax and incur the benefit? what would you do personally? >> well i wouldn't do either of them personally. melissa: you have to pick one. pick your poison. >> save, save, save. i would work out with the most amicable family member i could find and work out some kind after nice arrangement there. melissa: so you're good for it. >> when you think about these types of loans you want to avoid those at all costs. but if you're in a desperate situation, make sure you realize the cost. if you're in the 28% tax
5:32 pm
bracket, melissa and younger than 59 1/2 every buck you take out will cost you 39 cents. that is a big-time hit to take money out to make bills today. melissa: 401(k)s are so important. back in the '80s, four out of five people have a pension. that is not the way it goes. maybe one in five. 401(k) is only thing we have is really cushioning your retirement unless you have kids that become very rich. that could be great too. >> that is a plan. melissa: that is a plan. make sure your kids are itch r things for coming on. next on "money", americans thirst for gas is at the lowest level in decade. did you know that? is it a good thing or not? we'll get to the bottom of it. are we about to enter another war on terrorism, this time in mali? al qaeda militants advance, the u.s. prepares to step in. how high could the cost go? "piles of money" coming up. ♪
5:33 pm
at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally.
5:34 pm
5:35 pm
5:36 pm
you ♪ . >> so drivers hoping for some relief at the pump think again. after months on the decline, gas prices are up four cents this past month but while pump prices rise, mastercard says u.s. gas demand has dropped to its lowest level since they began tracking drivers consumption since
5:37 pm
2004. do you believe that? we have patrick dehaan, senior petroleum at gasbuddy.com. my gas buddy. thanks for coming on. i want to settle this. i have been having a argument with people lately. we've seen gas demand really dropping off. the lowest level since 2004. some people say we're all driving fuel-efficient cars. is that true? >> well, what do you think it is? i think there's a bit of everything. certainly fuel-efficient cars help the situation. we get constant updates from the university of michigan. they do a study that tracks the average fuel efficiency of new cars that americans are buying and has gone up virtually every month, i believe the last year, 2012, we averaged 23.9 miles per gallon for the year that is a big jump. back when they started the study in 2007, the average fuel economy of a car was back down to 21. so two miles per gallon improvement over last five years that is pretty good. melissa: i think it is
5:38 pm
because 22.3 million people are unemployed or not working as much as they want to. so they have so much less mon in their pocket. if you don't have a job you don't have anywhere to go. people don't have money. so they're driving less. >> well, let me try to poke a hole in that. melissa: go ahead. >> back in 2008 when bear stearns collapsed you remember that prices fell instantaneously overnight. gas prices were down. people unemployment numbers started going way up but still, mastercard a was tracking demand during that time. melissa: right. >> you note as you pointed out, this is the time they have noted demand is at its lowest time since they started. that theory doesn't hold a lot of water. melissa: back to you, my friend, there, gas prices fell. i remember it was a $1.89 a gallon. all of sudden gas became way more affordable. last thanksgiving, prices out at the pump going to grandma's house are the highest they have ever been thanksgiving. if prices are high and you
5:39 pm
don't have a job you will drive less. nobody has a job, bear stearns collapse, unemployment falls, but gas prices are low. at least you can still afford to drive. >> i suppose that is true. like i said, it is not just one thing. it is not just the other. certainly part of it is because unemployment still remains higher than where it was prerecession. obviously if you don't have a job you will not drives a much. high price as well. you cited thanksgiving prices were still through the roof. people have made permanent lifestyle changes and they're consuming less of the stuff. not only that, but they're driving more fuel efficient vehicle. prius sales topped a million. that is another factor besides. melissa: there you go. what do you think happens going forward? is there a danger to lower gasoline demand? are we going to see refineries doing less and drillers drilling less? we have the whole revolution where shale is creating so much more oil here in the u.s.. >> right. melissa: if demand goes down, do we back off on drilling and production and that makes prices go even higher?
5:40 pm
>> well, depends. oil prices are pretty low thanks to north dakota and canadian crude oil. it is favorable for refineries to refine even if gas prices are slipping. as long as economics is there for refineries to refine and margins are healthy, they will still kick out gasoline and that will help usher in lower prices as well. it depends on the price of oil. melissa: that brings me to the next point. if demand is lower, why are we seeing gas prices so high right now? >> well, a lot of it is the fact that oil still has to be refined to get in our gas tanks and refineries, at least, late last year were still, had still slow production. now they have kind of boosted it up. we've seen a big jump in gasoline inventories which is probably why the national average stopped dead in its tracks after christmas, started rising. now it leveled off because gasoline inventories are beginning to rise significantly of the as long as that continues things will look good.
5:41 pm
melissa: you're the best. you have an answer for everything. real quick what kind of car do you drive? >> mazda 3. melissa: fuel efficient or? >> well it does pretty well, but a lot of time quite frankly i'm in chicago so i take mass transit. melissa: there you go. patrick, you're the best. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. melissa: time for today's fuel gauge report. conocophillips will sell a group of oil fields to danbury resources. it is for 86,000 acree in southwestern north dakota and montana. the fields produced 13,000 barrels of oil a day. a major north sea oil pipeline is shut down. the pipeline owned by abu dhabi national energy, transports 100,000 barrels of crude a day. a leak on a oil platform caused a shutdown. eight other platforms were closed from the leak. that is a big deal. opec's oil production slid by 430,000 barrels per day in december. it hit 30.65 million barrels according to platts.
5:42 pm
much of the decline is attributed to production cuts by saudi arabia. that opec data helped fuel a decline for oil futures. it settled close to 1% down, 93.28 a barrel. next on "money", the u.s. looks to intervene in the escalating conflict in mali. what could it cost to stop the advance of al qaeda affiliated militants? we have the details coming up next. at the end of the day it is all about money. ♪ . ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it.
5:43 pm
5:44 pm
5:45 pm
5:46 pm
melissa: may not have heard of molly before there week but want to hear some of this. some of your tax dollars could be sent to the african nation soon. forces with connection to al qaeda control more than half of the war-torn country. an estimated 30,000 civilians have fled since the fighting began last week. the french military is deploying 750 troops and engaging in airstrikes. u.s. is providing logistical support. could be a matter of time before we take a bigger role. let's talk to a kick can i global support and fox news
5:47 pm
contributor. to a lot of people this conflict is a surprise. they don't know necessarily where this is. they're surprised france is getting involved. this is a nation with a lot of ties to france. >> absolutely. so a lot of people are seeing french involvement as neo colonialism. france is extending its hand and getting involved in mali. melissa: used to be a french territory but now it is not. >> french territory. mali has natural resources. a lot of france is apfluent throughout its history has been part of this french-african connection that has always been there. at this point we're seeing the mali government, the interrim president, has asked france to 12 get involved. it has gotten to a point where it is so bad, as you said in the intro we just heard about mali, but what has been going on has been going on for over a year. march of 2012 they had a coup. this democratically elected government was overthrown and there was a political vacuum. story sounds familiar. it was taken over by these
5:48 pm
islamic extremists. north of the country was just given over. melissa: sounds very similar to a lot of the situations that we're hearing about in the middle east and in north africa right now. it is ironic that we trained the leader that launched coup, right? >> exactly. so a lot of people ask, you know, will the u.s. get directly involved? the answer is we already did and it backfired. what we did was, the u.s. government decided to train a bunch of these leaders, if you will, in the region and we ended up training the officer who ended up leading the coup. melissa: against the democratically-elected leader. >> created problem. melissa: we created the problem. that's a shocker. all this matters to us of course because al qaeda has a major presence? >> right. and it is an al qaeda type group. whatever we want to call it. never want to use the word terrorists. they are terrorists. they are tied with al qaeda. they have a $100 million stockpile of weapons and the reaction from both the
5:49 pm
french side and the u.s. side has been that they are more advanced and more technologically prepared than we ever imagined and this battle will be longer and harder. >> where did they get a 100 million dollars worth of weapons? >> they have been collected over years. more recently since muammar qaddafi was killed and overthrown they went crazy over the libyan stockpile. melissa: seems like france is taking a stand early and moving in. is there a chance they could end this and resolve it or not? >> not as early as we assume. melissa: we're just waking up to it. >> we're just waking up to it, first of all. second of all the african military forces are getting involved, almost too early for them to get involved because they still the training. a very bad situation no matter how you look at it. >> will this cost the u.s. taxpayer dollars? i hate to reduce it to money but it is a show called "money" we have to bring it back to that. >> regardless of problems, problems cost us money. we already offered up transportation, refueling assistance and intelligence
5:50 pm
so that will cost us drones, satellites, manpower. melissa: you name it. lisa, thanks for coming on the show. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. melissa: so this is why you never leave your train keys in the sun visor? every wonder what would happen if someone stole a train and took it for a joyride? one woman find out the hard way. details on that coming up next. you can never have too much money. ♪ . [ male announcer ] how do you trade?
5:51 pm
5:52 pm
with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.
5:53 pm
5:54 pm
♪ . melissa: that was dancing, nothing, you're just going to sit there? they don't like fired up, right? come on. fun with "spare change." we have author and radio talk show goddess, monica crowley. our very own in the wake of his recovery, dennis kneale. you've been out for nine weeks on your deathbed. you're finally back. we missed you. >> thanks very much. happy to be here. melissa: glad to have you back. first up, have you heard about this? china's capitol city, beijing is covered in a thick, dirty cloud of smog. that is what it really looks like. the air quality yesterday was literally off the charts. kids were kept home from school and a sales of face masks have skyrocketed. have reports, so have reports of respiratory problems. so what needs to happen here? monica, this is crazy. >> this is managed capitalism gone wild. they're obviously are very
5:55 pm
little to know environmental regulations going on. government obviously doesn't care. melissa: she say something pro-regulation? >> i am pro-smart regulation. melissa: like an oxymoron. angeles was under clouds of smog. you have to clean it up somehow, and sometimes you do need smart regulation to force companies to at least abide by certain restrictions. >> tebow needs more regulations, you need ten words, giants fans. falling to disappear by a day or two when wind comes and blows it all away. as for l.a., 40 years assess the passage of the clean air act, and it is still not fully compliant. i was stunned to read that. furthermore, the u.s., vice-president gore going after the u.s. for being a big polluter. janet, over nine and a half
5:56 pm
kilotons' every year, almost twice as much. why are really even more worried? melissa: i am so glad you are back. were you saving all of that up, just storing up all of that energy? absolutely. although, i have to say, he looked a lot better. -- l.a. looks a lot better. this mod just hung there. you can see it on your skin. moving on to sweden, the important story, a cleaning lady seized an empty tray and three in the morning and drove it -- drove it for three minutes until is slanted to an apartment building. authorities had no clue house she was able to a steel the train which she drove for two stops before trashing. incidentally no one in the apartment building was hurt, though the woman was seriously injured. that is not funny, of course. trains should be a little hard to commandeer.
5:57 pm
should they hide the keys? what do they think? >> i want to know why she did it at that apartment building. i think it was a former -- it's kind of bizarre. you'd hope that it is that easy to drive one, but apparently it is. melissa: it must be. >> it can't be that easy because she crashed into an apartment building. melissa: but how did she get end? >> also, we don't know whether the keys were readily available or not, how she started the engine. maybe she jumped to the engine. we also don't know if she was intoxicated or under the influence. melissa: right. >> it did happen at 3:00 a.m. melissa: although she did drive it up for a while on the tracks successfully before derailing. you're looking at me like crazy. next, now of the flu is taking all the fun out of our teen spirit. a youth soccer leagues is insisting that high-fives be halted. the elbow-5 each other. they see this as preventing
5:58 pm
germs from spreading. do you think -- they're going like this. elbow. elbow. >> if all society adopted the elbow we would have your folks with the flute. melissa: you're just better because you have been laid up. >> i'm with dennis on this. i walk around fox business like a famous surgeon. melissa: really? >> yes. i do. and think they you can not contain it, what you can try to mitigate the flu by doing the elbow bumps. melissa: i have to tell you. i have two little kids. the season each other, take each other's food. high-5 is the least of your problems. you should be so lucky. on top of each other coughing in the breathing. even still, it is ridiculous. that is the least of all we all read about here. all right. i guess it is good news for all the men out there looking for
5:59 pm
much younger women. nearly 3,000 female college coeds went on-line looking for a sugar daddy to pay their tuition, among other things, more than double the number last year. the top two schools to find men to fund their education, georgia state university, and new york university. right here. you know what, i'm going to force you go first on this one, dennis. >> i'm shocked by a couple of things. the federal government is sending a college loans to anyone who applies with no credit rating. why would women want to sell themselves, in essence, to raise money when the king in a federal loan taken default on and will in the putting of bailout guaranteed. it it's not a prostitution service, it is an escort service. i thought that was kind of one in the same thing. melissa: isn't that what they say, we are setting up dates. >> they all just say that

81 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on